[Final Fantasy IX] The Faithless (1/1)
Story Status: Complete
Fandom: Final Fantasy IX
Rating: PG/K+
Archive: Fanfiction.net, 24hour_themes. Please ask me for permission if you would like to archive any of my work.
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy IX is the property of Square-Enix.
Note: This is the first of my themes for my claim at 24hour_themes; this one is for 20:00, with the prompt being "Leadership, command, and guidance."
The Faithless
by Josie
He wasn't particularly used to taking charge. Some of it probably came out of having been raised by Baku, he figured, but it didn't change a thing that he just had no idea how to really deal with such responsibility.
Well, that wasn't to say that he didn't know how to take charge. He'd been placed in charge of small groups on raids before, after all, but it had always been under the plans that had been laid out for him. This? This was nothing like that.
What was it about her? He'd asked himself that question constantly ever since running into the princess he had set out to capture, and still he had no answer. He'd left Tantalus plenty of times, but never for something so 'petty' as a girl. Even for him, that was probably a new low.
But now he sat in Dali; he'd been there so often before. Hiding out, small runs, some training, even just overnight stays while waiting for an airship back to Lindblum. It was so different, though, having the direction to go but not knowing the direct means of doing so. And that said nothing of the strangeness about the village this time. Something had changed; the fields had been completely plowed over for ...
... if he was honest, he could swear that it looked like a landing field for airships.
For airships. Maybe. Hmm. Just maybe, that might work. The barest hint of a plan began to form in his mind. Granted, he was fairly certain that it wasn't quite the caliber of a plan that Baku and Cinna would have managed, but it would have to be enough, under the circumstances. Especially with Rusty planning on taking her back to Alexandria on moment's notice.
Laying back on the bed, arms crossed behind his head, Zidane stared at the ceiling for a few moments. A frown crossed his lips. I wonder where Dagger is, he thought, shifting slightly to turn onto his side and face the wall. And I hope that Vivi's alright. That innkeeper was a bit shady with how he was looking in their direction, and if it wasn't Dagger he was looking at, then ...
They weren't coming back. He frowned again, starting slightly as the clock on the wall chimed eight times to signal the hour. "It's getting late ... I wonder what everyone's up to."
Rolling over and jumping off the bed, he stretched, tail twitching slightly behind him; that was probably the start of taking the lead, anyway, he figured. Knowing where everyone else was, making sure that they were alright, gathering them together ... wasn't that how Baku had always been with them, in their haphazard, dysfunctional sort of family situation they'd found themselves in?
Baku - ... dad - maybe I'll make you proud this time. Maybe I'll find what I couldn't every other time that I left, and I'll come back home knowing what to do, knowing where I should be. I don't need to find a home anymore, I know that. But I need to find my place, and maybe that's not just the follower anymore. ... that's what you wanted, isn't it? You needed someone who can be there if anything happens. But ... but I don't want anything to happen
He had no idea how to be a leader, but he had to at least try.
And he knew he had some big shoes to fill.
Fandom: Final Fantasy IX
Rating: PG/K+
Archive: Fanfiction.net, 24hour_themes. Please ask me for permission if you would like to archive any of my work.
Disclaimer: Final Fantasy IX is the property of Square-Enix.
Note: This is the first of my themes for my claim at 24hour_themes; this one is for 20:00, with the prompt being "Leadership, command, and guidance."
The Faithless
by Josie
He wasn't particularly used to taking charge. Some of it probably came out of having been raised by Baku, he figured, but it didn't change a thing that he just had no idea how to really deal with such responsibility.
Well, that wasn't to say that he didn't know how to take charge. He'd been placed in charge of small groups on raids before, after all, but it had always been under the plans that had been laid out for him. This? This was nothing like that.
What was it about her? He'd asked himself that question constantly ever since running into the princess he had set out to capture, and still he had no answer. He'd left Tantalus plenty of times, but never for something so 'petty' as a girl. Even for him, that was probably a new low.
But now he sat in Dali; he'd been there so often before. Hiding out, small runs, some training, even just overnight stays while waiting for an airship back to Lindblum. It was so different, though, having the direction to go but not knowing the direct means of doing so. And that said nothing of the strangeness about the village this time. Something had changed; the fields had been completely plowed over for ...
... if he was honest, he could swear that it looked like a landing field for airships.
For airships. Maybe. Hmm. Just maybe, that might work. The barest hint of a plan began to form in his mind. Granted, he was fairly certain that it wasn't quite the caliber of a plan that Baku and Cinna would have managed, but it would have to be enough, under the circumstances. Especially with Rusty planning on taking her back to Alexandria on moment's notice.
Laying back on the bed, arms crossed behind his head, Zidane stared at the ceiling for a few moments. A frown crossed his lips. I wonder where Dagger is, he thought, shifting slightly to turn onto his side and face the wall. And I hope that Vivi's alright. That innkeeper was a bit shady with how he was looking in their direction, and if it wasn't Dagger he was looking at, then ...
They weren't coming back. He frowned again, starting slightly as the clock on the wall chimed eight times to signal the hour. "It's getting late ... I wonder what everyone's up to."
Rolling over and jumping off the bed, he stretched, tail twitching slightly behind him; that was probably the start of taking the lead, anyway, he figured. Knowing where everyone else was, making sure that they were alright, gathering them together ... wasn't that how Baku had always been with them, in their haphazard, dysfunctional sort of family situation they'd found themselves in?
Baku - ... dad - maybe I'll make you proud this time. Maybe I'll find what I couldn't every other time that I left, and I'll come back home knowing what to do, knowing where I should be. I don't need to find a home anymore, I know that. But I need to find my place, and maybe that's not just the follower anymore. ... that's what you wanted, isn't it? You needed someone who can be there if anything happens. But ... but I don't want anything to happen
He had no idea how to be a leader, but he had to at least try.
And he knew he had some big shoes to fill.